The staffing cutbacks and tightened hours are starting to come back and bite us in the ass. Summer's over, school's in, and it's getting busier. The frenzied feeling, although it's always in the background, is getting more acute. And I am damn tired of being a highly-paid cashier. My technicians are swamped with inputting prescriptions and waiting on people 'dropping off' with all of their usual issues. They don't give us a cashier, so that leaves me to man the 'pick up' window as well as being the final check on prescriptions -- when I get a break from cashiering, that is. Our retail people feel that the more non-pharmacy crap we have to sell, the more profitable we'll be. That makes cashiers like me very busy.
A young man came in and requested a refill on his Claritin (for him, covered by insurance).
We determined that he had gone through 30 Claritin in a week. Obviously a huge misunderstanding on how often he was supposed to take them. Of course there was a language barrier there too. I asked if he felt he had any of the adverse effects mentioned in the Claritin 'overdose' information, and he said no. I advised him to stop the medication for a few days, and then resume at one per day. A little unsettling, though -- what is that expression about closing the barn door after the horse has bolted?
We had a guy who proclaimed he had not been to the doctor for 22 years. He could provide no insurance information but was completely perplexed as to why he had to pay for the prescription when he 'HAS insurance.' He ended up taking the prescription back, I assume to look for another pharmacy that would take his word for it.
People wanted to keep me on the phone for precious, excruciating minutes while they had think-out-loud conversations with themselves.
"Hmm, OK, my prescription's ready to pick up .... how much is it? What are your hours?... Hmm. maybe I could send my cousin to pick it up...Oh no, wait, he works till 7....I have to be somewhere at 3, but maybe I could come on the way there.... you're at the corner of Main and Main, right? Is that near the K-Mart? I used to shop at that K-Mart. I'll probably wait till tomorrow. But, I might decide to come today. I have some other errands to run. Hey, did I order my Albuterol too?"
Please God, just get me off this phone, I'm drowning here.......
On the health care reform front, a writer named Joe Conason had an interesting idea.
Let's yank the federal health insurance from these obstructionist Congressmen and Senators and send them out in to the marketplace to buy their own. Look at some of those people and tell me there aren't some MAJOR pre-existing conditions there. It sure would be an interesting exercise !!
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2 comments:
You forgot about being the store's unofficial information desk..you know telling everyone where to find the insect repellent, or nail polish remover. Then there is also the task of being the gatekeeper of the PSE products. Love your idea about stripping Congress of its insurance. Bet there would be some action and/or compromise then.
That sucks. Sorry.
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